


it's the one good thing that i've got

by bechloehuh



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Pitch Perfect 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 19:24:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13083720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bechloehuh/pseuds/bechloehuh
Summary: Beca never thought she’d be the type of person to be jealous of some random dude she just met, but life seems to have a way of throwing curve balls when she least expects it and at this point she’s learned to just let it happen.





	it's the one good thing that i've got

**Author's Note:**

> here's the thing. i saw pitch perfect 3 today and i couldn't not write something for it. this is based on the overall story but with bits missing and also, i kind of go off topic a lot so if you're reading this before you watch it, there's definitely some parts of this that do not happen in the movie. nevertheless, i hope you enjoy this, as my fingers hurt like a bitch and i'm never writing again.
> 
> (that's a joke.)

At first, she’s kind of reluctant to go to Europe with the Bellas.

On one hand she’d appreciate the break. Somebody took away her impulse control and she quit her job; laid all the truth out on the floor in front of her boss and her new client and she thinks maybe other people were there too – including her client’s mom – but she’s pretty sure she blacked out and she doesn’t remember anything other than being very, very angry.

She vaguely remembers raising her voice, telling her new boss she’s much better than she thinks, and her music doesn’t deserve to be pushed aside so easily like she has been doing for the past few months. She hates that she’s constantly being undermined, and she feels like she can’t do her thing without having her clients complain about how she’s ruined their song. Because she’s not an idiot, and she’s aware of her talent. She doesn’t ruin songs, she makes them better. And she is _not_ going to be looked down upon by someone who is literally named Pimp-Lo.

And sure, she gets it, it’s hard to break into this industry, especially as a woman. But damn it, she has a reference from a man sitting on _Grammy’s_ and _he_ thought she was good enough, so why the hell is her new boss giving her such a hard time? So, she quit her job, and she _was_ feeling good about it until Amy made a big deal out of being unemployed, and still so young, and not being able to pay rent, and now she seems to be regretting it and maybe every decision she’s ever made that led up to it.

So, she’s _quit_ her _fucking_ job, and she kind of needs another one if she wants to continue being a functioning adult and continue to live in the tiny Brooklyn apartment she shares with Chloe and Amy, and continue to afford groceries and other necessities to survive. Fat Amy is definitely not the type of person to let her stay in the apartment when she can’t afford rent, since she currently makes a living off of dressing up as Amy Winehouse and singing in the street, and still tends to steal money from Beca and Chloe’s wallets on a regular basis. And Chloe has what Beca thinks is millions of dollars of student loans to pay and she’s still struggling to get into vet school, so being unemployed right now is definitely a risk she’s not sure she should take.

She’s fairly certain that her dad will take her back in, but then she’ll be stuck in Barden again after finally moving to a new city and landing a new job like a real adult, and she’s not sure she can think of anything _more_ embarrassing. So, finding a new job ASAP is number one on her priority list.

At least, she thought it was. Until an emotional, drunk Chloe Beale looked at her with those eyes that she’s never been able to say no to, ever since freshman year, and silently pleaded with her to come with the Bellas to Europe for one last show together.

“I suddenly have a bunch of free time,” she says, as if _that’s_ the reason she’s going to go, “so... hell yeah.”

She knows the reason she’s _actually_ going is sat two seats down looking at her like she put the stars in the sky.

* * *

Beca never thought she’d be the type of person to be jealous of some random dude she just met, but life seems to have a way of throwing curve balls when she least expects it and at this point she’s learned to just let it happen.

She doesn’t like Chicago.

He’s handsome and cocky and tall and he’s in the fucking _Army_. Of course the Bellas drool over him, _including_ Chloe. Cynthia Rose makes an offhand comment about the women in army uniform on the runway when they step off the plane, and Beca sips on her Capri-Sun as she takes one look at them, looks back at Chicago, and agrees. She doesn’t have to think about it, really. And she’s not ashamed either. The Bellas are no longer confused about her urges to compliment women. Ever since Kommissar, they kind of expect it now. She’d be insulted about it if she wasn’t so glad that they no longer tease her for it.

Maybe she was blind to her confusion in college but she’s not now. She’s an adult. She buys vegetables and has a real job - _had_ a real job - and she owns a god damn working coffee machine; she’s grown up enough to admit that she’s into women as well as men.

It took a while for her to actually realize - she cried into a pot of mac & cheese when it fully registered in her mind, but nobody needs to know that - but if anything, it made sense. The offhand comments about the pretty girl who sold her a coffee that morning, the way her eyes linger on the models when she’s bored and flipping through a magazine, and not to mention the huge crush she had on Jennifer Lopez when she was growing up that she just used to shrug off as normal, because _everybody_ has a girl crush, right?

So, she _knows_. She knows she’s bisexual. It didn’t take long for her to warm up to the fact, and when she finally told the Bellas in the group chat they all share a few weeks after graduation, they’d told her that they already knew but they were proud of her for realizing it. Chloe had responded with an abnormal amount of emojis that - on any other day - Beca would worry the meaning of, and Stacie had mentioned hooking her up with the girl that lives three doors down in her new apartment complex, and Emily had sent a string of keyboard smashes and told her that she’s happy for her. She wasn’t really sure why it was a big deal to them, but she appreciated their support nonetheless.

Still, she’s bisexual, which means she can appreciate men as well as women, so if Chicago was worth drooling over then she’d totally join the Bellas - bar Cynthia Rose, Emily, Jessica, and Ashley - in gawking over him as he talks about the tour and what to do and where to meet and other things that she soon realizes she’s not listening to.

Of course, when the group start to make their way inside the hangar with their suitcases, Chloe leaves Beca’s side to fall into step with Chicago, and she thinks she hears her mention that she’s also 24 but her cheeks are burning, and she doesn’t know why. She thinks maybe she’s coming down with something and she’s ready to turn and ask Jessica if she knows what’s wrong with her when she looks beside her to see Emily looking down at her.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Emily immediately says, tearing her eyes away and looking straight ahead as the group follow Chloe and Chicago.

Beca frowns, and though she hasn’t known Emily as long as she’s known the rest of the Bellas, she knows when she’s lying. She’s an easy person to read, and Beca’s good at reading people anyway, so it doesn’t take much for her to crack.

“You just look sad.” Emily says after Beca continues to look up at her, occasionally sipping on her Capri-sun.

“I’m jetlagged. I don’t even know what day it is, dude.”

“It’s Wednesday.”

“I… Okay.”

She loves Emily - she loves all the girls in her own special way - but she clearly has a temperature and might be falling ill, and she really doesn’t want Emily to be grilling her about how sad she looks right now. Which isn’t even true. She’s not sad. She’s fine. She feels on top of the world. Minus the flu or whatever it is she seems to be coming down with.

She’s _fine_.

“Your cheeks and ears are like, _really_ red.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re gonna get permanent frown lines if you keep like... glaring like that.”

“I’m not _glaring_.”

“My mom says that if you’re pulling a face and the wind blows on you, your face will permanently stay like that.”

“That’s her face all the time anyway, Legacy.”

Beca whips her head around to look behind her at Ashley, who immediately cowers under her scowl at what she had said, and Beca scoffs as she turns back to Emily.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this? This is my _face_ , I’m sorry–”

“–Um, Beca–”

“–That I– No, I don’t want to hear it. I’m fine. I feel _fine_. What? What are you looking at?”

She follows Emily’s eyes down until she’s looking down at her jeans, and she immediately sighs when she sees the patch of juice on her leg from where she had squeezed her Capri-sun too hard. It’s just her luck that there was enough juice in the container to make it seem like she’s peed her pants, and it’s also just her luck that she chose to wear light jeans today instead of her usual black ones.

“Shit,” she murmurs, wiping the palms of her hand over the medium-sized patch of juice, as if it will disappear magically. It’s no use though, and Amy is looking over at Beca over the top of Flo’s head, and she sighs before Amy can even say anything.

“Do not–”

“–BECA, HAVE YOU _peed_ your pants?!”

She glares at Amy as she wipes her hand on her jacket, hoping to God that nobody else besides the Bellas heard her, but before she can even say anything, Amy starts to laugh and then Chloe is turning around and slowing down, and Beca looks at her just as Chloe grabs Chicago’s arm to stop him from walking away.

“Beca,” she says, and she looks concerned but Beca can already feel her face getting hotter than it was before, “did you _pee_ yourself?”

“ _Oh_ my god, no! I squirted my juice too hard.”

At that, some of the Bellas burst out laughing and she groans, because _of course_ they find this funny. She thinks maybe they all get off on watching her get embarrassed, because it always seems to be _her_ that bad things happen to.

At Beca’s comment though, Chloe smirks and covers her mouth to stop from laughing, and on one hand Beca thinks it’s nice that she’s considerate enough to at least _try_ to suppress her joy at the image of Beca with soaking wet pants, making borderline sexual innuendos. Plus, a giggling Chloe is always funny to watch. On the other hand, she takes one look at Chicago smiling down at Chloe, and she feels the heat in her cheeks and ears intensify until she thinks maybe her head might explode.

“You’re all the worst,” she grumbles, throwing the Capri-sun pouch down on the floor, and she’s not even phased by the gasp that comes out of Chloe’s mouth.

“Beca Mitchell!” she says, tone now fully serious, and Beca knows exactly what she’s about to say. “Pick up your–”

“–Pick up my litter, yes _mom_ ,” she says, already bending down to pick the juice pouch back up, and Chloe is about to say something else – maybe she’s about to thank her – when Amy makes a whipping sound.

All she can do is roll her eyes, clench her jaw, and hope that Amy doesn’t make any more jokes because she can’t deal with that right now. Chicago speaks up though, telling the Bellas that they need to go inside to meet the other groups before rehearsal.

He speaks with such power, like he’s better than everyone, and since meeting him ten minutes ago all he’s done is tell them all what to do. _Nobody_ tells Beca what to do, except maybe Chloe and sometimes her dad if it’s a day where she chooses to be nice to him.

“You guys go ahead,” she says, hoping to God that she can salvage the last bit of dignity she has left by changing clothes _before_ she meets the rivals, because of _course_ , it’s just her luck that they have to meet them while her pants are soaked and Amy is seeing how many inappropriate comments she can make about Beca peeing her pants. “I’m gonna… find somewhere to change real quick.”

“No time,” Chicago says. “The show is at seventeen hundred and–”

“–I don’t care,” Beca says, laughing bitterly, gripping the handle of her suitcase. “I need to change.”

“But–”

“–Dude, _no_ ,” She’s real sick of him telling them what to do as if he’s the boss of them. As if he’s not some random white dude she _just_ met. “I’m not going in there looking like I’ve fuc–”

“–Beca.” Chloe interrupts sharply, and Beca looks at her to see she has a pleading look on her face as if to say _please_ don’t make a scene. Not now. And Beca loves Chloe but she can’t always do whatever she says all the time, no matter how– “It’s not even that bad, look, it’s already fading. You can change later,” she says, and then she’s holding her hand out to her and Beca tilts her head and sighs.

Of course, she takes Chloe’s hand. She takes her hand and she lets her drag her inside to where the other bands are setting up the stage, some of them tuning their guitars, and a small part of Beca – deep, deep inside – is doing a little victory dance at the butthurt expression on Chicago’s face when Chloe doesn’t let go of her hand.

“Seventeen hundred,” Chloe says, and Beca looks at her, assuming that she’s asking her something. But Chloe’s looking at Chicago, and Beca rolls her eyes. “Is that like… after night?”

“It’s five.” He responds, and Beca has to stop herself from gagging at the flirty giggle that escapes Chloe’s mouth.

* * *

She’s never been jealous, but God, she’s really feeling it when she keeps catching Chloe glancing at Chicago when they’re introducing themselves to the other bands. It’s stupid that she makes such a big deal out of it, but come _on_ , Chloe can do so much better than _Chicago_. She doesn’t know what’s got her acting like a blubbering schoolgirl every time Chicago talks to her.

The only other person who made Chloe this awkward and fumbly was when they met Michelle Obama before they performed for the president on his birthday. Which is totally acceptable. Michelle Obama is on a _whole_ other plane of extraordinary, and Chicago Walp is _nothing_ compared to Michelle Obama.

So why the hell has he got Chloe acting like this?

 _This_ being, like Chloe is falling in love with him.

The thought of that makes Beca feel sick, but she guesses that’s because of the fever she’s coming down with, so she stays at the back of the group, occasionally looking down to check the fading patch of juice on her jeans.

And okay, maybe Beca gets a little too close to Aubrey’s face when she interrupts her to sing Remix to Ignition. Maybe she rolls her body a little _too_ seductively while she grinds against Cynthia Rose as the Bellas all back them up as they sing during the chorus. But one glance at Chloe shows that she couldn’t care less, and maybe that breaks Beca’s heart a little, but she’ll never admit that.

* * *

It’s pretty much a given that Beca and Chloe end up sharing a hotel room, and it’s a given that Beca finds her personal space already been invaded the minute they get to their room as Chloe drops down onto her bed with a box of chocolates.

“Where did these come from?” Beca asks.

“Chicago,” Chloe says, popping a chocolate into her mouth. “D’you manage to get the pee outta your jeans?”

“Funny,” Beca mumbles, reaching out to snatch the card with the different types of chocolates on it from Chloe’s hands, and Chloe laughs.

“Cute sweatpants, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“The Bellas are on their way over.”

“What?” Beca’s eyes widen as she looks at Chloe, hoping that she’s joking. “Why?”

“Sleepover, duh! It’s our first night!”

She groans, putting a chocolate into her mouth. “Please,” she begs. Her mouth is full but she can’t bring it in herself to care as she carries on talking. “Cancel it. I’m so tired. I don’t even know what day it is.” she swallows the chocolate. “I’m... pretty sure I’ve already said that today but...” Chloe just stares at her, and she throws her head back onto the pillow. “I’m so tired that I’m pretty sure I just ate a Turkish delight.”

Chloe gasps. “You hate Turkish delight!”

“My point exactly!” Chloe laughs again. “ _Please_ cancel the sleepover.”

“No can do,” She says, holding out another chocolate for Beca. “We haven’t had a Bella sleepover in months.”

Beca’s not sure arguing with Chloe over this will get her anywhere so she sighs, accepts the chocolate, and puts it into her mouth with no more complaining. Trying to convince Chloe not to do something is impossible – she’s _always_ impossible – so Beca just accepts her fate as Amy bursts into the room with two hands full of snacks.

* * *

They _should_ be rehearsing for their performance tomorrow but of course, Emily bursts in ten minutes later than everybody else, dressed in a getup that Beca personally thinks is showing _way_ too much cleavage for Emily Junk, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s an adult and Beca isn’t her mother. Emily can wear whatever she–

“What are you wearing?” Okay, she couldn’t _not_ say anything. “You look like a-”

“-Beca.” Chloe warns.

“A stripper,” Amy says, and Chloe immediately reaches over and slaps Amy on the arm.

“Both of you, enough!” she turns to look at Emily. “You look beautiful, sweetie.”

“Aw,” Emily lifts her shoulders up and grins, and Beca can see a blush forming on Emily’s face but before she can mention it, Aubrey is asking Emily why she’s dressed up. “Right,” Emily says, getting herself together, and then she launches into a small speech about how the rivals don’t take the Bellas serious because they’re an acapella group, and she finishes it with “we have to _show_ them that we are not a joke!”

And she has a point.

“Legacy,” Amy says, standing up, “I cannot _believe_ that a half-decent idea just came out of your dumb mouth.”

“Thank you.”

So Beca finds herself watching all the Bellas leave as Chloe pulls her up from the bed to get changed for the party at the casino that is supposedly happening in an hour.

She really, _really_ doesn’t want to go, but Emily said that there’s an open bar - she wonders _why_ Emily knows this - and although Beca’s tired, she could really do with a few drinks before she has to spend the night with a – most likely drunk – Chloe Beale that she’s 99% certain will end up getting into bed with her claiming that she needs her Beca cuddles. Which, Beca’s personally not against, but she’s been feeling very confused lately and she’s not sure she’ll survive sleeping in the same bed as Chloe every night while on this tour without spontaneously combusting.

* * *

It doesn’t surprise Beca when Aubrey tells everyone to split up at the party, and it doesn’t surprise her when Chloe starts to follow her as she makes her way through the casino. She starts to head to the bar, but she’s cut off by Chloe grabbing her, whisper-yelling “hide!” as she pushes her towards a wall next to a huge fake plant.

“Why are we hiding?”

“Theo, six o’clock!”

Beca frowns, looking behind Chloe and then to her right, where Chloe is stretching her neck to try and see over the tall plant.

“That is _not_ six o’clock, Chlo, how have you still not got the hang of that?”

Chloe ignores her, continuing to look at Theo who is currently talking with a few people, who Beca guesses are part of DJ Khaled’s team. It’s only when she’s about to push herself off the wall and tell Chloe that they don’t need to hide that she looks down and notices that Chloe’s hands are cupping her boobs.

“Dude,” she says, holding her hands up beside her, “what is _this_ about?”

Chloe looks at her, then down to her boobs, and Beca starts to feel her cheeks heat up again when Chloe doesn’t remove her hands, but instead carries on staring at them.

“Chloe.”

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing?”

Chloe looks up. “Are you wearing a push-up bra?”

“What? No.”

“They just… do that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“They’re like…” She looks down again, “defying gravity.”

“What the f–”

“–Did you get a boob job?”

“ _When_ would I have had time to get a boob job?”

Chloe shrugs, then shifts her hands so she has a better hold of them, and Beca can’t help the way her breath hitches at the movement. “You know, for someone so small you have a pretty big–”

“–You’re _literally_ like an _inch_ taller than me.”

“How tall are you?”

Beca sighs. “Five foot.”

“I’m five three.”

“Okay, three inches. Potayto, potahto.”

“I don’t think that’s how that phrase works.”

“Chloe.”

“What?”

“Your hands are still on my–”

“–What are you guys doing?”

Beca jumps, pushing herself off the wall and in turn, pushing Chloe away from her as they turn to see Aubrey, Cynthia Rose and Emily looking at them.

“Nothing!” they both shoot back in unison, ignoring the strange looks that the Bellas give them.

Everybody seems to let it go though, after Emily points over to Theo who is now making his way into an elevator with the other men. And Beca’s tempted to just head to the bar and forget that _that_ just happened, but Emily says they should probably follow him and suddenly Beca feels like she’ll do just about anything to avoid being alone with Chloe for one more second.

Chloe still sticks close to her though, close enough that their bare arms brush with almost every step, and suddenly Beca’s finding it hard to breathe.

“Bec?” She looks beside her at Chloe, shooting a smile that she knows Chloe can see straight through. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to throw up.”

“You really need to stop doing that,” Beca says, sighing, and she catches the confused look on Chloe’s face just before she turns to watch Aubrey head to the bar instead of the elevator.

“What?”

“Being...” Beca looks over at Aubrey, confused. “Weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“I..” She trails off when she notices Cynthia Rose looking at her with a confused expression on her face, and she’s not sure she wants to have this conversation in front of the Bellas. “It doesn’t matter,” she says, but the look on Chloe’s face shows Beca that she’s not getting out of this that easily.

She pleads with Chloe with her eyes though, and somehow Chloe gets it. She always has. She knows Chloe will definitely bring this up later but for now she’s put it to rest, and Beca’s thankful. She’s still shocked at what just happened and she’s not sure her brain can handle this much Chloe Beale in one night.

So, she calls Aubrey’s name, asking her what she’s doing, to distract her from the way Chloe is looking at her right now.

“Getting a drink before we head up there. Chloe, you coming?”

Beca hangs back with Cynthia Rose, suddenly not interested in getting a drink, and she feels Chloe’s eyes on her as she walks toward the bar with Aubrey, but Beca ignores her.

Cynthia Rose gives Beca another look, and Beca’s pretty sure acting nonchalant about this is the only way she can survive tonight, if she wants to avoid being grilled at what the _hell_ just happened. In all honesty, even _she’s_ not sure what happened back there.

“Okay, what?” Beca asks, giving in to CR’s expectant look. “What is _that_ look about? Do I have something on my face?”

“Apparently not,” Cynthia says, smirking as she turns to walk away, and Beca can’t help the furrow in her eyebrows.

“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?” She speeds up her walk to catch up with CR, and she watches the way she smiles as the two of them make their way over to where Flo is banging on the side of one of the casino machines. “Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“What’s with the look and… that comment?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Beca rolls her eyes and looks to her right, where she immediately locks eyes with Chloe across the room. She’s leaning with her elbows on the bar, unaware of the drink being pushed in front of her by the bartender as she looks at Beca.

She wishes she didn’t, but she knows that look. She’s seen it before, many, many times over their years spent together in college.

And she’s not an idiot. She knows how Chloe feels - _felt_ \- about her. Hell, for a while she thought maybe she might have felt the same way too. But then Jesse happened and no matter what other people - The Bellas - might think, Beca really did love him. He was the first person she ever fell in love with. The first serious relationship she’s been in, and the first boy that didn’t break her heart.

But he graduated early and moved to L.A for film school and the two of them mutually agreed to call the relationship off since long distance just wasn’t for them, but there’s definitely a part of her that still loves him. Sure, it’s been months, but the wound is still fresh. She still expects him to casually call her babe over the phone or occasionally surprise her with flowers and chocolate even though she pretends to hate that cheesy, romantic bullshit. But he’s in L.A and he has a new girlfriend now and they even own a cat together, and Beca’s never really been good at the whole _dating_ thing, so she’s sort of content with just being with herself for now.

But she _knows_. She knows Chloe had a crush on her in college. She had her suspicions for a while throughout freshman year and they were confirmed during a drunken night out at the beginning of her Sophomore year with a few of the girls.

Chloe had failed Russian Lit, and Beca didn’t question it. She was sort of worried, but she didn’t question it. She didn’t voice it either, which is probably why Chloe never out right told her that she liked her. Looking back now, Beca was an ass in college. No wonder Chloe was worried about telling her about her feelings, because current-Beca can admit that college-Beca would’ve ran 300 miles in the other direction if Chloe had expressed any hint of romantic feelings towards her. She already had enough on her plate with Jesse, she really doesn’t know if she could’ve handled both of them.

Despite that though, Chloe told Beca about retaking the year since she failed, and she was definitely upset about it. She had cried, and college-Beca gave her a soft pat on the arm and said “it’s okay” and then made up an excuse about meeting up with Amy for lunch. Current-Beca would’ve probably thought to do the same, but then she would give in to Chloe’s pleading look and stayed with her all night watching terrible rom-coms and eating ice cream out of the tub.

Current-Beca hates college-Beca.

Despite Chloe being upset though, when Beca finally moved into the new sorority-turned-Bella house that Chloe had managed to convince the Dean to let the Bellas have, all Chloe’s worries seemed to have gone. Maybe that was because she was already pre-drinking as Beca was moving her stuff in - her excuse being that it’s five o’clock somewhere - and Beca knows that Chloe is a happy drunk, and tends to forget anything bad in the world.

So Beca agreed to go out that night because it’s _Chloe Beale_ , and before she knew it Chloe had taken too many shots with Stacie and begged Beca to dance with her. Beca had only had two drinks but she was already starting to feel them get to her head, so she’d agreed. It’s always been hard to say no to Chloe Beale, even before things got a little complicated with the not-so-platonic feelings they may or may not have had for each other.

Chloe had pulled Beca close and tried to kiss her, but Beca had been on her third _official_ date with Jesse the week before, and Beca’s not that type of person. She knew what those dates with Jesse meant. She knew Jesse liked her a lot, and she knew that she liked him a lot – though, a little less than he liked her - in return.

She’d been kissing Jesse a lot and she knew that kissing Chloe Beale just wouldn’t feel right. She’s not the kind of person who kisses more than one person at once. So, she’d turned her head at the last minute and closed her eyes as Chloe kissed her on the cheek, and Chloe had giggled against Beca’s skin and moved her mouth to her ear. Beca can’t remember what she said or how it made her feel - it’s been years - but looking back, she’s sure that it was something weird. Chloe tended to do and say weird things a lot, and though it took a while for Beca to get used to, she doesn’t question it anymore.

There’s been a few other scenarios which proved Beca’s point that maybe Chloe liked her. A few too-long-to-be-innocent kisses aimed her way when the Bellas insisted that they all play truth or dare. A few tears shed over the person she likes not liking her back. Not to mention the comment about not experimenting enough in college. She never outright told Beca that she had feelings for her, but Beca’s not stupid. She sees - _saw_ \- the way Chloe looked and acted around her. Chloe never acted like that around any of the other Bellas.

Boyfriends - and sometimes girlfriends - have come and gone, but Beca’s never seen Chloe in a serious relationship. There was Tom, which for a while Beca thought was Chloe’s boyfriend, but Chloe had admitted to her one night that she and Tom aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend because she already had her eyes on somebody else, which looking back, Beca thinks maybe that was her.

And don’t get her wrong, back then she wanted to return those feelings, she _did_ , but she’s not sure what it is about Chloe. Chloe’s her best friend. She makes her feel safe and welcome - she always has, even when the Bellas doubted her - and she doesn’t want to lose that. Adding feelings to the mix will mess everything up. It’s inevitable that it’ll end badly, and she’d prefer it if Chloe Beale stayed in her life for maybe forever.

Of course, she’ll never admit it, but Chloe’s the only thing on this planet, other than music, that makes sense to her, and Beca’s never had that before.

She’d be an idiot to ruin that.

So as much as Beca would love to go over to the bar and ask Chloe what she’s staring at her for, because Chloe’s the type of person who, especially lately, just outright tells Beca how she’s feeling - and Beca knows for a fact she’d definitely tell her - Beca’s kind of not sure whether she wants to know. So, she breaks the eye contact with her and turns back to Cynthia Rose and Flo, who are now arguing over the right way to use the money slot machines.

* * *

DJ Khaled’s lounge is fancy and beautiful, and maybe Beca only thinks that because of the set up she’s currently standing in front of with Theo, but she’ll deny it if anybody asks. She’s pretty sure the whole thing costs more than her whole college tuition, and she’ll be damned if she leaves tonight without testing it out.

When Theo plays a beat there’s one song that immediately springs to mind, and she’s singing along to it before she even realizes that it’s George Michael’s Freedom. Of all the songs she could’ve picked to impress someone who works for the man who might be signing them to his label, she chose George fucking Michael. She’s been listening to a lot of George Michael lately though, which is all Chloe’s fault. Especially because Chloe sings in the shower and Beca had overheard the melody one morning a few weeks ago before work.

She had asked Chloe what song it was, and Chloe had proudly answered “Freedom 90!” as she wrapped a towel around her head and stepped into her hedgehog slippers, adding “George Michael’s coming out song!” as if that information was necessary. So yeah, it doesn’t surprise her that Freedom was the song that immediately sprung to mind, but it _does_ surprise Chloe when she walks in on Beca singing along to the chorus just after Theo leaves.

“I knew you liked this song!”

Beca turns around quickly, smiling when she sees Chloe walking over to her, arms crossed with her clutch gripped in one of her hands. If Chloe notices the way Beca’s eyes trail over her body, stopping a while longer at her neckline, she doesn’t mention it.

She looks away, back towards the set up in front of her, and pulls her headphones down so they’re resting around her neck.

“This looks… complicated.”

“Yeah,” Beca laughs. “Not really. We have stuff like this at work, just… not as expensive.”

“At the job you got fired from.”

Beca sighs. “I didn’t get fired, I quit. Amy just… doesn’t listen. Ever.”

“What did you mean earlier?”

Beca looks at Chloe, slightly shook by the quick change in topic, and she tilts her head slightly. “When?”

“When you said I need to stop being weird.”

“Oh. _That_.”

She leans over and presses spacebar on the laptop in front of her, stopping the music before she scoots to the side to let Chloe sit beside her.

“You tend to… ya know,” she clears her throat when Chloe’s leg brushes hers. “You touch me. A lot. I mean, I’m not exactly complaining. I’d much rather _you_ grab my boobs than like… Amy. Or Theo.”

“You don’t like him?”

“That was not my point at all.”

“But I’m asking you, do you not like him?”

“He’s… British.”

Chloe laughs. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t trust him.”

“Oh my God, why?”

“Well for one, I don’t understand a word he says.”

Chloe laughs again, and Beca can’t help but smile. She can’t help it. Making Chloe laugh is one of her favorite things to do.

“But he’s… nice. Right?”

“Nope. He’s terrible.”

“You said that about Jesse and you dated him for three years.”

Beca sighs, shaking her head. “Don’t bring that up, man.”

“Sorry. I just,” Chloe pauses, occupying her hands by pressing a few buttons on the launch pad, and Beca smiles at the ring on Chloe’s thumb that Beca’s pretty sure she’s had on since she was born.

“You just what?”

“Think you should… Move on. Find someone new.”

“Maybe I already have my eye on someone,” Beca says, nudging Chloe’s hand away from the launchpad. “Ever thought about that?” She finally looks beside her to see the confused look on Chloe’s face, and she sighs. “Hypothetically. A hypothetical person.”

“Nuh-uh,” Chloe shakes her head. “It’s never hypothetical with you. Remember your last hypothetical emergency? You ended up in the hospital with a sprained ankle.”

“I really thought I could make that jump.”

Chloe giggles, nudging Beca’s arm with her shoulder. “Come on,” she says. “You can tell me. Who is it?”

“I…” Beca looks down, pursing her lips while she thinks. She could just say it. Tell Chloe that she’s been feeling things for her lately. But that’s clearly a disaster waiting to happen, and she doesn’t do that kind of stuff, especially in low light settings like this, without wanting to run away. So, she sucks in a breath and looks up at Chloe with a reassuring smile. “I’ll tell you when I finally get the courage to tell _them_. ‘Kay?”

“Whoever it is,” Chloe responds, seemingly satisfied with Beca’s answer, “must be really special.”

Beca nods with a smile. “She is.”

Suddenly her eyes widen at the same time Chloe’s do.

“She?!”

“He! They. What? Shut up.”

“Oooh,” Chloe grins, poking Beca’s arm, “Beca Mitchell has a girl crush!”

She resists the urge to roll her eyes and instead just lets Chloe tease her. It surprisingly doesn’t last long, and she turns to Chloe with a shake of her head when she’s done.

“You’re the worst, you know that?”

“Thanks!”

Beca turns back to the set up and she watches as Chloe leans over to press the space bar, which then starts the song back up again. Hearing her vocals back sounds weird, but she lets Chloe turn the volume up, so she can hear it through Beca’s headphones that are around her neck.

Beca watches Chloe’s every movement. Watches the way she nods her head along to the beat, her smile growing as the song progresses. Watches the way her fingers tap along on her knee, and the way she mouths the words along with Beca’s voice on the track.

Suddenly, Beca’s heart starts to clench.

“Do you like Chicago?” she asks. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when she realizes that she needs to talk to distract herself from the way her insides feel like they’re going to fall out, and she really wishes she’d asked another question because it’s something that she’s noticed she does _not_ want the answer to.

“Yeah. I mean… I don’t know.” Beca raises her eyebrows but stays silent, and Chloe continues when she realizes that Beca isn’t going to say anything. “He’s just… You know, he– he’s good–looking, and _kind_ , and he seems to be… what? What’s wrong?”

“What?”

“You pulled a face.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did. It was like this,” Chloe scrunches her nose up slightly and rolls her eyes and honestly, Beca’s kind of insulted that Chloe looks so good while pulling such a ridiculous face. Still, it makes her laugh, and she pushes Chloe’s arm when she keeps scrunching her face up in different ways.

“Oh my god, _stop_. You’re gonna give yourself an aneurysm. I didn’t do that.”

“You did.”

“I didn’t!”

“Did too!”

“You’re _so_ stubborn.”

“Am not!” Beca raises her eyebrows, and Chloe sighs because Beca literally just proved her point. “Okay, _fine_. But you _did_ pull that face.”

Beca shakes her head, then turns back to the setup in front of her.

“So, _Freedom_ , huh?” Chloe asks.

“It was the first thing that came to my head.”

“Why?”

“I feel like it’s relevant right now.”

Chloe raises her eyebrows and it looks like she’s about to ask something when Theo returns with two drinks, greeting them both with a flirty “ladies” which makes Beca cringe. But Beca, not wanting to make this any more awkward than she feels it already is, stands up to accept the drink, almost choking herself in the process when she forgets to remove the headphones from around her neck.

Chloe Beale touches her boobs once by accident and suddenly Beca is left a mess, questioning everything about her entire existence. It’s not fair that Chloe can be so nonchalant and casual about this whole thing while Beca’s here feeling like she’s about to have a panic attack every time Chloe stands too close to her.

* * *

Beca has no idea why this trip has suddenly turned into her figuring out what the hell is going on with her feelings towards Chloe. It’s really messing with her head, and she’s starting to do and say things that she would never do before.

Like admit things to Chloe about her life that she hasn’t admitted before, and belt out songs like Human by Christina Perri in the middle of a riff-off, and turn down cute guys like Theo because she has her eye on somebody else.

But it’s Chloe Beale, and Beca can’t help it. Chloe does dumb things like sings Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison to animals at the vet, but replaces the word girl with whatever animal she’s singing to. The one time Beca witnessed this was when she took Chloe some lunch on her break, and she watched her serenade a dog whose puppy dog eyes had _nothing_ on Chloe’s. She pours the milk before the cereal and sometimes dances when there’s no music playing, but Beca loves all this about her.

She’s in love with all of those things, and it’s that thought that has her crying on her hotel bed while Chloe and the Bellas are all downstairs with Chicago and Zeke in the fancy new French Hotel lobby that Chicago had decorated _especially_ for the Bellas.

No wonder Chloe likes him. Beca could never do something like that to impress Chloe. She’s pretty sure the only thing she’s done in her life to impress Chloe Beale is lead them to win the World Acapella Championship in their senior year. And even that was a group effort.

What she doesn’t expect, as she’s just about to press send on a text to Jesse about how stupid she is to ever think she had a chance with someone like Chloe Beale, is for said person to come barging into the room yelling “I’ll be two minutes!” at whoever is standing outside.

Beca predicts that it’s Chicago, which just makes her feel ten times worse, and she turns away from Chloe with a sigh as she deletes the unsent text and locks her phone.

“Beca?”

“Hmm.”

“You’re crying.”

Beca laughs, wiping her nose with her palm. “Great observation skills, Chlo, ten out of ten.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Bec,” Chloe warns, and Beca sucks in a breath, letting it out with more force than necessary.

“What?”

“I know you.”

“If you knew me then you’d know I don’t want to talk about it.”

“And then I’d tell you to stop shutting me out and talk to me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“How come?”

Beca brings her legs up onto the bed so she’s sitting cross-legged, watching as Chloe stands awkwardly in the hotel room. She’s sure that if Chloe actually cared, she would’ve sat down with her by now. But then she sees Chicago peek his head through the gap in the open door, and she looks away, clenching her jaw.

“Can you just leave me alone?”

“Okay. Sure. Sorry.” Chloe turns around, stopping just before she walks out of the room. “Text me if you need anything, ‘kay?”

All Beca can do is nod, finally letting the tears continue to fall when she hears the click of the hotel room door as it closes.

* * *

They almost die.

Beca wishes it weren’t as dramatic and as serious as that sounds, but it _is_ that dramatic and serious. They almost die, and it’s the scariest thirty minutes of Beca’s entire existence, and _yes_ , that is counting the time a ride broke down at Disneyland when she was a kid and she thought she was going to be trapped inside Splash Mountain for the rest of her life.

She wants to tell Amy that DJ Khaled wants to sign her – just _her_ – but Amy is packing clothes and telling her there’s no time to explain and suddenly she’s on a rowing boat after awkwardly changing clothes in the cab ride to the dock.

She has no idea why she had to change but she’s learned not to question Amy, and then Amy is explaining that the Bellas have been kidnapped and–

“WHAT?!”

“Jesus!” Amy yells back. “You’re so shrill!”

“What do you mean the Bellas have been kidnapped?! By who?!”

“Fergus!”

“Who?!”

“My dad! Stop yelling!”

Her immediate response is to worry about Chloe. Of course, she’s worried about the other Bellas, but she doesn’t know what she’d do with herself if Chloe ever got hurt. And she hates being in the dark about things, but Amy is quick to assure her that she knows her dad’s boat well, and to just create a loud distraction when they get to the boat so she can save the Bellas.

She really doesn’t want to ask, but she does anyway.

“Why can’t we call the police? Or Chicago?”

“No police!”

Beca throws her head back in frustration, throwing a paddle at Amy.

“Help me row the fucking boat then, Ames.”

They reach the boat with ten minutes to go until Fergus sails off to wherever the hell he’s headed, and Beca manages to sneak behind the Bellas without alerting him. She immediately sits behind Chloe, smiling at her when Chloe notices.

“What the hell are you doing?” Chloe asks her in a hushed whisper, and Beca smiles gently at her before telling her to go along with it.

They sing.

Of course, they sing.

It’s the only thing Beca can think of that’ll distract Fergus _and_ make a lot of noise so they don’t hear what Amy’s doing down below. Beca starts them off with the opening notes of Toxic, a performance that won them the national championship back in Junior year.

The song is only five minutes long, but they have nine minutes to perform before something Beca suspects is _very_ bad will happen, and she’s never been this excited to see Amy break through a glass ceiling – literally – than she is right now.

She’s not sure how the boat blows up – she suspects that’s also Amy’s doing – but she doesn’t stop to find out. She’s resurfacing almost as soon as she hits the water, frantically looking around in search of Chloe.

She screams her name when she sees her clinging to one of the boats, swimming over to her faster than she’s ever swam in her life.

“Chloe!” Beca yells out again, and she hears Chloe yell “here!” just as she feels an arm pull on her shoulder.

She comes face to face with Chloe, breathing heavily as she uses the boat as support, and she’s about to ask Chloe if she’s okay when she feels Chloe pull her in to a tight embrace.

“–Did you hurt yourself? Are you hurt?” Beca asks, one hand holding on to the boat and the other wrapped tightly around Chloe’s shoulders. “How’s your–”

“–Beca, I’m fine.” Chloe hugs her tighter to reassure her and Beca squeezes her eyes shut as she tries to get her breathing in check. Her heart is pounding and she’s out of breath and there’s so much happening, but Chloe is _safe_ and that’s all she cares about in this moment.

* * *

“Are you going to tell her?” Amy asks when they’re drying off.

They’re off the boat and on land now, and Chloe has gone with Aubrey and Emily to get coffees for the Bellas as the rest of them continue to dry themselves off and get warm. Beca doesn’t realize Amy is talking to her until she glances up to look at the clock on the wall and sees everyone staring at her.

“What? What happened?”

“You should tell her.”

“Who?”

“Come on, Beca. We’re not stupid. Legacy? Maybe. But not us.”

Beca rolls her eyes and bends back down, continuing to towel dry her feet before she slips her boots back on. The feeling of her bare feet in her damp boots feels gross and uncomfortable, but she’s doing everything she can to distract herself because if she thinks about her feelings for Chloe, she’ll most likely end up crying again, and Beca Mitchell does _not_ cry in front of people.

“You should maybe stop being mean to Emily.”

“You should tell Chloe you’re in love with her.”

Her head snaps up so quickly that she feels like she gets whiplash, and she frowns when she notices the serious look on Amy’s face.

“You’re not laughing,” Beca says. “You always laugh at your own jokes.”

“That wasn’t a joke.”

“Yes, it was,” she shoots back. “ _Laugh_ , damn it!”

Amy sighs, and Beca glances at Jessica and Ashley who are cuddling on one of the benches. She then looks over at Cynthia Rose, Lilly, and Flo, who are also looking at her with expressions as if to say “Amy’s right, you _are_ in love with your best friend, and we’ve all known for years now.”

They don’t _say_ that, but Beca knows it.

Sometimes she hates that they all know each other so well.

“You _all_ know?”

“Beca, we knew before you did.” Cynthia Rose says. “She loves you too, you know.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh my God, Beca, you walnut.” Amy throws down her towel in frustration. “She loves you! You love her! She wants to marry you and have sex and babies – if that’s possible – and whatever else people in relationships do!”

“Wa–walnut? What?”

“ _That’s_ what you took away from that?!”

Beca sighs, sitting down and resting her elbows on the table in front of her.

She juts her jaw out, looking beside her at Chicago and Zeke, who are talking to a few other soldiers who came to their rescue, and she lets out a bitter, heartbroken laugh.

“What do I do?” she asks, looking at Amy.

“Tell her! Before,” Amy nods her head over in Chicago’s direction, “ _he_ does.”

* * *

She performs Freedom when she opens for DJ Khaled, after the Bellas all tell her that she should definitely take the opportunity because it’s a huge deal and they support her no matter what. And she really hates just how much they support her, because taking the deal is actually easy when she knows she has a group of women – her _family_ – who love and support her no matter what. She really wanted it to be a hard decision.

She still pulls the Bellas on stage with her, Amy first, and then Aubrey, going down the line until eventually, she holds her hand out for Chloe to take. She feels the tears in her eyes but she carries on singing because Chloe is looking at her with pride in her eyes, and Beca’s never held her hand so tight before in her life.

So, she sings her butt off and the Bellas back her up, along with DJ Khaled’s band behind them providing a beautiful, soulful melody. She sings her _butt_ off and she makes sure to look at Chloe as she sings the most important lyrics of the song.

_“I won’t let you down, I will not give you up.”_

She sees something in Chloe’s eyes, but it’s gone before she can take it all in. Or maybe it’s still there, she doesn’t know. All she knows is that she needs to finish the song before the ends up a blubbering mess on the stage, because these women are her family and they’re here with her in what could possibly be the most important moment of her life, and she wouldn’t even _be_ here if it wasn’t for them.

Her emotions are running wild, and she lets a tear fall when they all put their hands in the middle of the circle they’re in, throwing their arms up in the air as the song comes to an end.

All she feels is love and pride when the Bellas stand behind her in a line as she makes her way to the front of the stage, finishing the song with one final “ _It’s the one good thing that I’ve got_ ” before the crowd erupts in cheers.

* * *

It’s one thing watching Chloe act like an infatuated school girl in front of the pretty boy soldier all week, but it’s another thing watching her actually _kiss_ him at the end of their performance.

And suddenly Beca understands.

When people say it’s possible to die of heartbreak, she understands.

Yet, as sick as she feels while she watches Chloe pull Chicago towards her by his tie and smash their lips together, she can’t bring it in herself to look away.

She never expected to be the girl stood on her own on the sidelines while the woman she’s just recently realized that she’s head over heels in love with is kissing another man. It reminds her of her first kiss with Jesse, which hurts even more. Because Jesse left her, just like her dad did, just like her high school boyfriends did, just like everyone else did.

Everyone except Chloe Beale.

The kiss doesn’t last long, but it’s long enough for Beca to feel like her heart is shattering, and she finally snaps out of her trance when Chloe pulls away and looks towards the rest of the Bellas that are stood watching.

She’s blushing, tucking her hair behind her ear, and Beca can’t take it anymore.

“I’m,” the sob escapes her mouth before she can stop it, “really happy for you, excuse me.” And then she’s pushing past them, running behind the stage and out onto an open field and it reminds her of how she stormed off in her freshman year after regionals when Aubrey yelled at her for messing up the set.

Only this hurts so much worse, and she feels like if she doesn’t manage to get any air into her lungs sometime soon then she might pass out and die.

She jogs up to a line of army trucks parked on the field, and she leans her forehead against one of them as she finally lets the tears fall freely. Nobody is around, and her sobs are being drowned out by loud music being played by the band while DJ Khaled spouts some inspirational bullshit that, on any other day, Beca would be amused by.

But Beca doesn’t care.

All she can think about is Chloe. How she so easily strode up to Chicago and kissed him, like this is what she’s been waiting for. Like she finally got what she wanted in the end.

And Beca’s happy for Chloe, she is, but all she can think about is how her heart hurts like it’s never hurt before.

“Bec?”

She sucks in a breath at the sound of the voice behind her, and she doesn’t need to look to know that Chloe already has a worried expression on her face. The type that Beca can never bring herself to lie to. Which is why this conversation is going to be so much harder than she thought it would be if Chloe were to see her like this.

She clenches her jaw, sniffing up as she takes a step back away from the truck. She looks up at the dark sky, blinking a few times as the rest of the tears fall down her face, and then she uses her sleeve to wipe her cheeks.

When she turns around, Chloe’s eyes meet hers and she sucks in another deep breath, letting it out slowly.  
  
“Hi,” she whispers, her voice hoarse from the combination of all the singing and crying she’s done in the past few days. “Sorry. Got a little... overwhelmed.”  
  
“Beca.”

She offers an awkward smile, but Chloe doesn’t smile back like she usually would, and Beca sighs.  
  
“Tell me what’s wrong.”  
  
“Come on, Chlo,” Beca lets out another strained breath that feels like a sob but no tears escape. “ _Please_ ,” she whispers. “You’re not an idiot.”  
  
“What?”

“You _know_.” She pauses, clenching her jaw. “Please tell me you know so I don’t have to say it.”

Chloe sniffs up, eyes welling up with tears as she takes a step towards Beca.

Beca looks down, closes her eyes, and counts to five. In those five seconds, three things happen.

Another sob escapes Beca’s mouth.

She begins to think of a way to tell Chloe that she’s in love with her.

And Chloe strides forward, two long steps until she’s in front of Beca, and cups her face.

“Wha–”

Her eyes close as Chloe swoops down and kisses her, and Beca’s hands come up to grasp onto Chloe’s elbows. She’s pretty sure if she doesn’t hold on to _something_ then her legs will give out beneath her and she’ll collapse because Chloe Beale is _kissing_ her.

And it’s desperate and soft and everything she imagined when she’d spend night after night wondering when she’d finally get the courage to kiss Chloe and tell her how she feels about her.

“I can’t,” Chloe murmurs into Beca’s mouth, “keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re _you_.”

Beca gasps, feeling the tremble of Chloe’s lips against her own and she kisses her firmly, assuring Chloe that she’s here, she understands, and she wants this.

“Chloe if you’re doing this,” she breathes out, “to make me feel better–”

“–I’m not.” Chloe suddenly pulls back, and Beca’s eyes quickly open to see that Chloe’s tears are falling freely down her face too now, and the hurt in her heart turns to butterflies in her stomach as she takes in how Chloe is looking at her.

“Beca.”

She sniffs up, breathing heavily, and nods her head.

“I love you.”

Chloe smiles. “I know. I love you too.”

“Why…” Beca clears her throat and shakes her head in confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Oh,” Chloe rubs the pad of her thumb across the tears on Beca’s cheek bone and half sobs, half laughs. “You have _no_ idea how hard I tried.”


End file.
